Sandwalker
by callmecirce
Summary: Half-Mer Kylo Ren saves a human woman from drowning, and begins to regret his decision almost immediately.
1. Grotto

Kylo thrust his gauntleted fist through the hull of the old ship with a roar, then pulled it back to begin ripping it apart, plank by plank, with his hands. He was hardly aware of his actions as he spent his rage on the wreckage; this wasn't anything that mattered to anyone, so he was free to reduce it to splinters if he so desired. At the moment, he very much so desired. By the time his temper had begun to cool, he'd moved through the ruined hull to a large cabin situated just below the aft deck, trashed the decaying remains of the once fine stateroom, and swam up through the deck itself to spend the rest of his ire against the thick mast. Then and only then did he subside, gripping the mast in his large hands and resting his forehead against it as he panted with his exertion.

When his breath had slowed, he released the mast and sank to the tilted deck below his fin. The water around him was now murky, polluted with the splintered remains of waterlogged wood and disturbed silt, but slowly, all of this was either swept away in the current or settled back to the ocean floor.

By the time it had cleared, so had his mind.

He felt foolish now that his anger had drained away, just as he always did after losing his temper, but he felt better for getting it out of his system and anyway, he'd been the only witness to his loss of control. Now, perhaps, he could return to the fortress and deal with Snoke without getting himself tortured or executed.

He grunted, shaking his head at the thought. Each day was a dance, carefully threading the space of Snoke's grace, teetering between doing what was required to appease Snoke and what his tarnished integrity would allow. It wasn't easy, being that buffer between the people and their cruel master, especially when they thought him every bit the monster he pretended to be, but it was necessary—and all of it, all of it had nearly come crashing down around him thanks to the machinations of a power-hungry general.

Damn Hux, anyway.

Kylo pushed away from the deck, first with his hands and then with his tail, and began to ascend from the shallow trench where the old ship had come to rest. The water warmed almost imperceptibly as he rose, moving slowly from the darkness of the deep and into the light nearer the surface.

A disruption to that light had him looking up, towards the surface, and he paused in surprise. Not one, but two human ships hovered overhead, their hulls so close together that he could see the pristine, whitewashed sides of one scraping against the dark, weathered sides of the other. Both ships shuddered, groaning in complaint at their rough treatment.

Intrigued, Kylo swam closer to the battling ships. The larger one was clearly a naval vessel, its shape sleek and predatory, but the smaller one—the much smaller one—could have been almost anything. An aged merchant ship, a fishing vessel, pirates or smugglers, anything. He's close enough now that he can hear the report of their weapons, the shouts and screams of those aboard. He wondered idly how long it would take them to subdue the crew of the smaller vessel, and whether it would soon be joining the skeletal remains he'd just left on the seafloor. To his surprise, though, an explosion rocked the larger of the two ships, and as it listed in the water, its victim pulled away and sped into open water.

Huh. Kylo certainly hadn't seen that coming. Perhaps they'd had a mage on board, to tip the—wait. He swam closer to the remaining ship as the other disappeared from sight, his gaze locked on something that drifted in its wake.

No, not something. Someone.

Without conscious thought, he sped forward to intercept the drifting body. If it was dead, there was naught for him to do but leave it for the sharks. But if it was alive, he could…what? Return it to its ship? Expose himself, and risk capture?

Kylo shook the thoughts away as he caught the limp figure in his arms and propelled them both upwards. He was wary as he broke the surface, keeping the ship in sight, but the people on board that ship had their hands full just trying to keep her afloat. Even if one did manage to spot him, there was little they could do to him. He turned his attention instead to the human in his arms.

It was a female, he realized, and young.

So young.

Her diminutive body was still, her chest unmoving, and Kylo grimaced. Still, there was a chance…

He closed his eyes and reached for her with his mind, seeking a spark of life—there. It flickered weakly, but it was there. His eyes open, he shifted her forward and thumped on her back, encouraging her body to expel the water even as he sought it and drew it from her with his mind. It left her lips on a coughing gasp, and then she was thrashing in a blind panic.

"Shh, be calm," he growled in his own language, grunting when a sharp elbow caught him low in the belly.

His words served only to frighten her further, and she actually managed to get away from him for a moment. He was tempted to simply leave her at this point. After all, she was no longer unconscious, and her people weren't that far away. Surely she could survive on her own now, right?

But, no. She went back under almost immediately, and it was painfully obvious that the silly creature didn't know how to swim. With a sigh, he caught her again and pulled her, coughing and spluttering, and yes, still struggling, back to the surface.

Kylo grit his teeth in frustration and pinned her to him with one forearm banded across her shoulders and the other slung low across her abdomen.

"Be calm," he said again, this time in the Common Tongue. The words were awkward and foreign in his mouth, but she understood him anyway.

"Let me go!" she returned, her voice stronger than he'd expected. Her tiny hands wrapped around his thick forearm and tugged, but he didn't budge.

He scoffed, tightening his hold on her. "Do you want to drown?"

"Better to drown than to be captured and tortured by a boot-licking Imperial trooper!"

His gaze shot to the Naval cruiser, now a good distance away from them, and the large, ornate crest emblazoned on the hull at its back. So she was from the other ship, then. Damn.

"I'm not one of them."

"Like hell you aren't," she snarled, squirming, her fingers sliding off of his armored gauntlet as she scrabbled to get away. "You weren't on the Prime, I know that much."

He sighed, expelling the air through his gills. "No, I wasn't on either ship."

At this, she stilled and the scent of her fear filled his mouth. Interesting. She hadn't been afraid until she realized he wasn't human. Her eyes slid to the side and met hit his. "Siren," she breathed.

"Mer," he corrected, twisting his mouth in distaste. Sirens were beautiful, yes, but they were nothing but treacherous cannibals, the lot of them.

"Please let me go," she whispered.

"You can't swim."

She trembled. "I'm sure that drowning is also better than being eaten alive by a monster."

"I told you, I'm not a Siren. I'm a Mer."

"What's the difference?" she snapped, a bit of the fire returning to her voice.

Kylo grit his teeth, feeling his temper slip. "If I'd known what trouble you'd be, I'd not have bothered saving you!"

She began to struggle anew. "Slimy, fish-faced jerk! Let me go!"

"Enough!" Kylo's temper snapped, and he dipped viciously into her mind and sent her to sleep.

She went limp against him.

Well, that was one problem solved. That left only the question of what to do with her. Clearly, he couldn't take her to the limping warship, and the smaller vessel was long gone. That left the islands.

He hadn't been to all of them, of course, but he'd been to most, and all of them were deserted—save one.

* * *

Rey came awake all at once, bolting upright with a gasp and a surge of adrenaline, but she was alone.

Alone, and completely disoriented.

The last thing she remembered was fighting the dark-headed siren in the middle of the ocean. Now, she was sitting in a low bed inside a small, dimly lit cave. The change seemed impossible, and she wondered—how long had it been? What had happened in the interim? Why couldn't she remember?

Panic began climbing its way up her throat, and she resolutely throttled it. Panic would get her nowhere. Instead, she threw off the covers and rose to her knees, taking stock. She was clean, warm, and dry. She hadn't been injured, and she was not chained in a cell.

Those were all good things.

On the flip side, she was hungry and alone, with no idea of where she was or how she'd gotten there. Her tunic and leggings were gone. Someone had stripped her out of her wet things, rinsed her in fresh water, and redressed her in an overly large shirt that would surely reach her knees when she stood. It had to be a man's shirt; it stood to reason that this was his bed, and his cave. Rey's skin prickled with unease at the thought of some unknown man with his eyes and hands on her, even if it seemed that he hadn't done anything else.

She pushed that thought down to languish alongside the panic, and continued to take in her surroundings. The cave floor was consumed almost entirely by the bed, which was surprisingly large. What little space that wasn't taken up by the bed was filled with the trunk at its foot, leaving only a narrow space to access the trunk. An opening in the rock wall provided the only source of light, as well as the only exit.

Rey bit her lip, unsure of what to do next. Save for the sibilant shush of gently lapping water, it was quiet beyond this little room, but that didn't mean that there was no one out there. Was her host, whoever he was, waiting for her?

Did it matter if he was? There was nowhere else for her to go, after all, so why not step out and meet him on her own terms? Rey crawled to the end of the bed and slipped to the floor, noting that it was cold but smooth beneath her bare feet. From there, it was only a single step to the doorway, and then she was peering out into the cave beyond.

There was no fire, but a few small mage lights hovered around the room and provided just enough light to see. It was a large natural grotto with a pool not far from where she stood, a small sturdy table off to one side, and an eclectic collection of stuff that ranged from books to doubloons to musical instruments. A wooden bowl containing fruit and bread sat on the table, with a wineskin—waterskin?—propped against it.

Unfortunately, mage lights produced no heat. Rey shivered in the damp chill of the cave, and chafed at her arms to warm them up. "I wonder where my leggings are," she muttered absently, hardly aware that she'd spoken aloud.

She'd barely finished speaking when one of the lights flickered, then floated down to hover over the table. Rey stared at it in bemusement, more than a little unnerved by its sudden move. Was it answering her?

When she did nothing, it pulsed as if trying to get her attention, and she realized that it was hovering not over the table, but over the chair on its far side. Nervously, she followed it and found that her things, now as clean and dry as she herself was, had been draped neatly over the chair's back.

"Oh, um, th-thank you," she mumbled to the light, feeling a little silly but not wanting to be rude.

It flickered once more in apparent acknowledgement, then floated back to where it had been before she'd spoken.

She mulled this over as she pulled her leggings from beneath her folded tunic and tugged them on over her bare legs. Rey knew of magic, certainly, and she was familiar enough with the more common magics—like mage lights—that she'd hardly thought anything of these until one of them had moved in answer to her words. Now, she realized that her host must be a mage himself, which left her feeling even more uneasy than she'd been before.

She tied her leggings at her waist, then slipped out of the oversized shirt to don her wrap, tunic and belt. She felt a bit better, now that she was wearing her own things, but she was still chilled. After a moment's hesitation, she pulled the large shirt back on over her clothing and snuggled into the fine lawn of the fabric. It was time to finish exploring her surroundings, and find a way out.

No matter how benevolent this mage seemed to be, anyone who consorted with Sirens was bound to be dangerous.

* * *

Kylo was pensive as he swam slowly back towards his hidden grotto, unsure of what to expect when he returned. He rather hoped that she would still be asleep. Asleep, he'd been able to appreciate her beauty, and the uncommon strength in her petite figure—as well as the fact that he'd clearly misjudged her age. Remaining clinical as he'd cared for her had been a challenge he hadn't foreseen and provided yet another reason to send her on her way as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, he had no clue whatsoever what to do with her, and while he wasn't usually one to procrastinate, her continued slumber would allow him a bit more time to wrangle the problem—and a bit more peace before he had to endure the sharp edge of her tongue once more.

If she was awake, and she almost certainly was, he had no doubt that he would be treated to further demands that he let her go, sprinkled liberally with aspersions on his character and likely his lineage, appearance, and sexual habits as well.

Call it gut intuition, but he didn't think she liked him much.

Pale light shone through the water, and he reached out with a single mental command—quiet—as he rose , and he made not a sound as he broke the surface in the shadows near the back of the pool. She was awake, and sitting on the floor near his overflowing bookshelf with her legs curled beneath her and his favorite shirt tucked around her. A book lay open in her lap, and as he watched, she took an absent bite of the apple in her hand and turned the page.

Well, at least she hadn't torn apart the grotto, looking for an escape. He heaved a mental sigh, dismissed the spell of quiet, and swam forward to prop his crossed arms on the edges of the pool.

She startled and snapped her eyes up, meeting his . They widened in fear, then narrowed in accusation. "You," she spat. "Why am I here?"

He settled his chin on his arms, resigned to her combativeness. "Because I didn't know where else to take you."

"Anywhere." She snapped the book closed and set it to the side before rising gracefully to her feet. He saw, then, that she'd donned her leggings beneath his shirt. Good; she'd found her things. And he would not be tempted by the sight of her long, lithe legs, added a small voice in some small corner of his mind. He throttled it, and her voice drew his attention back to her glowering face. "You could have taken me anywhere. Why bring me to a mage's lair, and leave me trapped?"

He sighed, and heaved himself up out of the pool to perch at its side. She startled again and scrambled backwards to press against the far wall, her eyes blown wide. "What are you doing? Stay away from me!"

He leveled her with a sardonic look, then leaned back against the cave wall with his long black fin ranged along the pool's edge and began stripping away his armor. "Despite your ingratitude, I was loath to leave you on a deserted island to starve, or die of exposure." He shrugged, and tossed his gloves to the stone floor. "I knew you'd be safe here."

"And the mage?"

Kylo felt a bubble of amusement, and his lips quirked. He shrugged again as his fingers began to work at the straps of his oiled leather cuirass. "He doesn't mind."

"So you say." She looked away and he saw her throat work. "How long will you keep me here? What will you do with me?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." He lifted the loosened cuirass over his head and tossed it on top of his gauntlets.

Her head whipped back around and she paled at the sight of his discarded armor and bared torso. She glared at him. "I will not be sating any of your appetites—"

Kylo rolled his eyes, now working on his bracers. "I could do whatever I want with you, and there's little you could do to stop me." She growled an objection, but he spoke over her as if he hadn't heard. "Fortunately for you, what I 'want' is to be rid of you as quickly as possible."

"Then tell me how to get out of here!" she demanded, throwing a hand out. "The cave's entrance must be obscured by magic. Tell me where it is!"

Another unexpected thread of amusement wove through him, tugging his lips up at the corners. "There is no hidden entrance. This pool is the only way in or out."

"No! There must be another way. How does the mage come and go?"

He tilted his head towards the water. "Through the pool."

"Then guide me out!"

Kylo's amusement had withered under her antagonism and his temper abruptly snapped. "Guide yourself out, woman! If you manage to do it without drowning, then good luck surviving on the island alone because I am done with you." He tossed his second bracer to join the rest of his armor and slid himself back into the pool with an angry splash. Then he turned back to her, snarling. "Gods above, the next time I see one of your kind about to drown, I am going to bloody well let them!"


	2. Exploring

He was gone.

Rey shut her mouth with a snap, and slid down the irregular rock wall to sit at its base, staring at the place where he'd been just a moment ago. Unease slipped through her, and for the first time, she wondered whether she'd been unfair in her judgement of him. She forced herself to review recent events.

He had saved her from drowning. He had left her in a place that was protected, with food and fresh water close at hand, with someone who had cared for her. He had not harmed her, turned her over to the Empire, or threatened her in any way.

He'd been sharp, and angry, but that had been after—"Be calm," he'd said, his voice low and smooth in her ear, offering only reassurance. But she'd heard it through the filter of her fear and assumed the worst. Now she had to admit that he'd done nothing to deserve her enmity and everything to deserve her gratitude.

Shame suffused her, heating her cheeks and tightening her chest.

She owed him an apology, and she resolved to deliver it as soon as he returned.

If he returned.

She grimaced, remembering his parting shot, and forced herself to consider that he might not return at all. But the mage must return at some point, right? She would meekly ask for his help in leaving, and to pass along both her apology and her thanks to the—the—what had he called himself? A Mer? Yes, that sounded right, but gods, she didn't even know his name. She flushed with guilt once more, and hoped for the chance to apologize.

To her surprise, though, she saw neither the Mer nor the mysterious Mage for what must have been days. Life was timeless in that grotto, with no sunlight to tell her whether it was day or night. She simply slept when she was tired and woke when she was rested. Each "day", when she awoke, she found that her stash of food and water had been refreshed, a new oilcloth-bound bundle and full water skin placed in the same place on the table each time. The bundle usually held some combination of bread, fruit, and cheese, but sometimes it held carefully-wrapped meat as well. Once, after having felt particularly chilled the previous day, she woke to find that another blanket had appeared and been tucked around her.

It was unnerving to know that someone—presumably the mysterious mage— was somehow aware of her needs and returned while she slept, but what could she do? Rey couldn't blame him for avoiding her, if the Mer had told him what a beast she'd been to him. So, she spent her time exploring the grotto in more detail: reading the books, examining the mage lights, poking through the random piles of treasures and sorting them into some semblance of organization, and even peeking into the trunk in the sleeping room.

That held little of any interest, only clothes and linens and furs, but the piles of treasures... There were musical instruments, old maps, and strange tools she didn't recognize. She found half of a chess set, an incomplete deck of cards, and a pair of dice. There were weapons, too, and various forms of armor, some familiar and some not. She was particularly intrigued by a long, slender metal cylinder that she found wedged behind the bookshelf. It was strange, wired and buttoned like a piece of tech, but with hand grips that made it look like the hilt of a sword. That, she'd set aside with the rest of the weapons, though she wasn't sure why.

Some of it, though, was literal treasure, and it made her scavenger's heart flutter with avarice as that pile grew. When she'd finished sorting through the mage's strange horde, she returned to this pile first. There were ropes of pearls, coins of every denomination, jewelry of gold and platinum… She finally gave into impulse and draped herself in the jewelry with girlish giggles, admiring the way it all shone and sparkled in the glow of the nearby mage light. She wore it for the rest of the "day", clinking and tinkling as she'd supped and prepared for bed. Then she took it off and placed it carefully, piece by piece, into a small chest that she'd found and emptied days ago. The last thing to go in was a delicate torque of hammered rose gold and finished with a vibrant blue gem at each end. Simple though it was, it was the piece she liked the most and the piece she was most reluctant to put away. She ran her fingers over it longingly.

Perhaps…but, no. None of this was hers, no matter how long she'd been there, and to pretend otherwise was wrong. Helping herself to any part of it was even more wrong. A scavenger she may be, but she was no thief. Rey closed the lid with a snap, and lifted the now-weighty chest to sit in pride of place on the bookshelf she'd organized the previous "day".

She dreamt that 'night', for the first time since coming to the grotto. It was dark, but she knew instinctively that she wasn't alone. There was the impression of a man, dark-eyed and broad, and his fingers delicate at her throat.

"You like this," he said, his voice low and sliding over her senses like rich, dark chocolate.

She touched her throat, her fingers brushing fleetingly against his, and felt the torque resting on her collarbone. She nodded, and felt satisfaction from him.

"It's yours."

And then he was gone, leaving her alone in the dream with the memory of his velvet voice in her ear.

She woke with the weight of the torque at her throat.

Kylo withdrew from her mind and retreated to the safety of the pool, his eyes on the darkened stone doorway.

What was he doing? Why hadn't he found a way to return her to where she belonged? He ran his hands over his face and then back through his damp hair, and blew out his breath.

He already knew the answer.

This woman, this prickly, unusual, beautiful woman, had captured his fancy and now he was disinclined to let her go.

That first day, when he'd left her in a fury of frustration, he'd picked a fight with the largest shark he could find and had killed it with his bare hands. It wasn't the smartest thing he'd done, tangling with an apex predator without the benefit of armor or weapons, and he had the still-pink scars to show for his stupidity, but he'd known the outcome of the fight when he'd started it. The shark had used its tail to buffet his head, knocking him into a reef to stun him, and then had gone in for the kill. But Kylo Ren was a hardy one. He met the open jaw with his hands and had spread it farther, wider, until the shark had attempted to recoil in a panic. Kylo hadn't stopped; instead, he coiled his tail around the beast's body for control and wrenched—dislocating the jaw and ripping it away entirely, all at once.

By that time, other sharks had been drawn by the bloodied water, but each and every one of them had recognized the superior predator and turned away in search of easier prey.

Ashamed of himself, Kylo had returned home with the body and delivered it wordlessly to the fortress kitchens.

That day, Snoke and his court dined on shark steaks.

In the days following, Kylo had returned only to bring her food in the dead of night, after his work for the day was completed. When he realized that she'd begun to go through his things, sorting and organizing them, he grew more curious. Now he was returning earlier and earlier each day to watch her from beneath the protection of a cloaking spell, dismissing the niggling sense that it was wrong to observe her like this.

She was just so…fascinating, especially when he realized that she'd begun talking to his mage lights, of all things, in an effort to stave off her loneliness. She'd figured out that she could make them follow her (she was obviously quite clever) and while two still hovered near the wall at opposite ends of the cave, the third followed her like an obedient puppy, providing its light to whatever she was working on. Apparently, it was also a source of company. She'd told it what she thought about the various things she found, speculated about the mage who had consented to host her in his grotto, and worried aloud about her friends and the fate of their ship.

Then, yesterday, she asked whether she'd ever get an opportunity to apologize to 'him', and Kylo was startled to realize that she was talking about him. With a lazy stroke of his tail, he drifted closer, out of the shadows and close enough to see her expression as she stacked his books, heedless of the fact that doing so weakened his cloaking spell.

"Luke would be ashamed of me, I know," she continued, lifting a particularly large grimoire and sliding it into place on the shelf. "I let my fear get the better of me. I know better than that, and I let it happen anyway." She sighed, and flipped open the next book in the stack, then placed it next to the grimorie. "And now, he won't come back to let me apologize and even the mage hasn't returned. Not when I've been awake, anyway, and I'm really starting to think that I won't be seeing either of them, ever." She placed the last book on the shelf and then stood, dusting off her hands.

Kylo had moved back into the shadows, his mind a whirl as he grappled with the realization that she wanted to see him again. He'd left not long after, and returned only long enough to leave her usual food and water on the table.

Today, he'd come back to find her draped in his jewels like a child playing in her mother's jewelry box, and he'd been stricken by the sight. He liked the idea of her wearing his treasures, more than he should. He sank back into the water and tried to out swim his own thoughts.

She was putting it all away when he'd returned. She'd chosen a small chest that had once held a random assortment of oddities, and filled it with his treasures. When it was nearly full, and she was nearly bare of ornamentation, he saw her lift her hands to her throat and remove the last piece of jewelry: a torque of hammered rose gold, with faceted kyber crystals at either end. She held it gently, running her fingers over the subtly textured metal, and for a moment Kylo wondered whether she would return it to her neck or place it in the box with the rest. She sighed, and then he got his answer—she set it into the box, closed the lid with a sharp snap, and placed the box on the shelf with his books before disappearing into the smaller cave to sleep.

He'd waited until the sounds of her moving around had quieted, then reached for her with his mind and nudged her into sleep. Then, and only then, did he rise from the water to place her food for the next day on the table. He ought to have left then, but instead, he opened the chest and thoughtfully drew the torque from within. It was an unusual piece, and lovely, but there were other, lovelier things in his collection—things of far more obvious wealth. But she hadn't lingered over the platinum circlet set with diamonds, or the flawless emerald pendant almost as large as her dainty fist. Those had gone into the box without hesitation, but she'd lingered over this, a piece whose value was not in its beauty but in its power.

On impulse, he'd turned and stepped into the room where she lay sleeping and touched a finger to her forehead, reaching for her slumbering mind and presenting himself as a dream. It had been easy enough to do, but even in an induced sleep, her clever mind was working. He was certain that she hadn't accepted him as a mere dream; the question now was whether she would remember.

He wondered, and not for the first time, if she knew what it was. He supposed it didn't matter. He'd gifted it to her, and while he wasn't sure why he had done so, he had no intention of taking it back—even if it meant that he would no longer be able to hide from her.

Hell, that was probably why he'd given it to her—to assuage his guilty conscience. To have watched her without her knowledge or consent was, at best, morally dubious. He knew that, and yet he'd done it anyway. Now, if she wore the torque, she'd be able to see through his illusions, forcing him to either stay away while she was awake, or to actually engage with her.

As he swam back to the fortress, it occurred to him that he had no idea which of those it would be.

* * *

It was several days later that Rey woke with the chilling, bone-deep awareness that she was no longer alone in the grotto. More than that, though, she knew that whoever had come was dangerous. She could feel malevolence pulsing in the other room. She held herself still, hoping to give herself time to think, but that was not to be.

"I know you're awake," he said in the common tongue, his voice cool and accented. "Don't bother pretending."

Fear clawed at her insides. Her inclination was to lash out, but remembering how that had gone the last time she'd been confronted with someone new, she forced herself to sit up and regard the newcomer calmly. She couldn't see much, only his silhouette. "Are you the mage?" she asked, sure that he was not but needing to consider the possibility anyway. She was proud that her voice didn't quaver.

"Of course not," he scoffed. "Did you mistake me for Ren?"

Rey frowned. "Who is Ren?"

"Your keeper." Rey heard the frown in his voice, and read it in his restless shift. "What do you call him?"

"Nothing," she replied honestly. "I've never met him."

"No? Well, not his whore then." There was a pause, and then he continued with a leer in his voice. "Unless he's wiping your memory of it after."

"What?" Rey straightened, bristling. "No! I've been alone until now. Besides, I am no one's whore."

The man chuckled darkly, and Rey felt renewed fear skitter down her spine. "Perhaps I'll make you mine, then." She stiffened, but before she could object, he continued, sounding puzzled. "But not until after I've figured out why Ren has made a pet of you. Why are you special?"

Rey ground her teeth at his arrogant impertinence. "I think you should leave."

"And I think that you should show more respect for your betters." His hand shot out and caught her full across the mouth, knocking her to the side and making her ears ring. "Talk back to me again, and it will be my fist rather than the back of my hand. Now, answer the question: why are you special?"

Rey pushed herself up once more and glowered at him, but did not answer him.

"I see. So that is how it will be." He leaned forward and wrapped his cold hand around the back of her neck, his thumb stroking her skin sensuously along the edge of the necklace she still wore, and dragged her forward to the edge of the bed. "Come. It is time you learn your place in the Order."


	3. Rescue

Something was not right.

Kylo felt it thrumming through him, the knowledge that there was something amiss, and it had him more on edge than usual. When he arrived in the audience hall and saw that Hux was not in his usual place, fawning obsequiously over Supreme Leader Snoke, that pinging turned to a claxon in his mind.

The girl.

Somehow, Hux had discovered the girl, and no doubt planned to try to use her as leverage against him.

Damn.

Kylo all but trembled with fear for the girl, and fury at his current impotence. He made an effort at calming himself, then turned to the Knight at his shoulder. "Mitaka. General Hux is derelict of duty, and it falls to me to collect him. Notify Captain Phasma. You will act in my stead until I return."

The man inclined his head deferentially. "Of course, Master Ren."

But Kylo was already moving away, swimming through the fortress of volcanic rock and making his way to the open ocean.

* * *

Rey glared at the creature before her, indulging in her anger to bolster her strength, and wondered distantly how she'd ever mistaken him for a man. His head and shoulders were human enough, she supposed, but his pupils were slit like a viper's and he had a long serpent's tail in place of legs. Naga. She'd never met a Naga before, but she knew instinctively that to show weakness before him was to invite death.

"You've got spirit, human." He slithered behind her again, and passed out of her field of vision. "And so lovely, you are."

Rey fought the urge to turn her head and spit in his face.

Again.

She settled for ignoring him.

One cruel, claw-tipped hand fisted in her hair and dragged her head back, exposing her neck, and his serpentine tongue flicked out to caress her throat. She flinched in spite of herself. "The scent of your fear is intoxicating, did you know that?"

Ignore him ignore him ignore him—

His grip tightened, pulling her head back to a painful angle, and she whimpered. "Answer me!"

Ignore him IGNORE HIM

He released her suddenly, then circled around to her front and backhanded her again. Were it not for the enchanted manacles, holding her aloft, she'd have fallen to the floor. As it was, her suspended body spun with the force of the blow.

She spat the blood from her mouth and continued to ignore him.

"Please, hold to your silence." His tone was conversational, as if he were talking about reading a book rather than tormenting a prisoner. "I'm enjoying this, you know."

"Of course you are."

Rey's heart dropped at the sound of a second voice. She was turned away from the pool, and couldn't see. Was this newcomer friend or foe? He sounded familiar, but was it really the Mer who'd saved her before, or was it only her desperate desire for rescue that made it seem so?

"Ah, there you are, Ren. I've been having fun with your little pet. Care to join mekgh—"

The Naga's words cut off with a choking sound as her slow spin brought her back around and stopped, and her eyes went wide. It was, indeed, the Mer who'd saved her from drowning and then left her in this grotto, but he was not as she'd seen him before. His face was twisted with a rage that frightened her, and he seemed to pulse with a power that she felt but could not see. He had braced himself on the edge of the pool with one hand, while the other was outstretched towards the Naga, his hand curled as if it were wrapped around the creature's throat. His hand twitched and the Naga gurgled.

"How dare you," he spat, his voice low and dangerously controlled. "How dare you come into my sanctuary and touch what I have claimed."

The Naga's eyes bulged as he clawed at his neck, trying to pull away hands that weren't there. His efforts succeeded only in shredding the skin at his throat.

The Mer—Ren?—hoisted himself from the pool entirely and rose on his bent fin, looking as if he were kneeling on the stone floor of the cave, and still he towered over the cowering, choking Naga.

"R-Ren?" she ventured, unsure of who should frighten her more. She thought that he was here to help her, but in that moment, he seemed entirely unhinged.

His eyes shifted to meet hers at the sound of her voice, and sanity seemed to return to them all at once. "Gods, what has he done to you?" he muttered, and his voice now sounded just as she remembered it. He grimaced and flicked his wrist, flinging the Naga carelessly into the wall. He hit with a sickening crack, then slid bonelessly to the floor.

Kylo waited only long enough to ensure that he didn't get up, and then he muttered something in a language that Rey couldn't understand. She frowned.

"What? I don't understand—"

He dropped forward on his hands with a pained grunt, and she watched with blank astonishment as his inky black tail split and receded into a pair of very human legs. He hung his head, panting in the wake of the change, before pushing himself up to his feet.

"You're the mage," Rey breathed when understanding dawned. "It's been you, all along."

"Yes." He stepped close and wrapped one arm around her back, holding her tight to his body, and her breath caught.

"What are you—?"

"Freeing you." He released the manacles, and she sagged against him with a pained cry as her stiff shoulders protested their abuse. "Karking piece of worm-ridden filth," he growled, brushing her hair from her face and tracing the cut on her lip with his free hand. She flinched. "How bad is it?"

"Not so bad, I don't think." She rolled her shoulders and winced at the painful burn as blood returned to her arms.

"Can you stand?"

At her nod, he lowered her to the floor, causing her to slide intimately along the length of his body, and her eyes shot to his. Her heightened awareness of him fluttered. He towered over her, and the breadth of his shoulders seemed to fill the grotto. Gulping, she stepped back and his large hand fell away from her waist.

His intense gaze never left hers, and it made her uncomfortable in a way she hadn't experienced before. She cast around for something to say, and her eyes fell on the crumpled form of her attacker. "Thank you." It came out in a rasp, and she cleared her throat. "For stopping him."

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."

Rey swallowed thickly, and looked away from the still unmoving Naga. "Is he dead?"

Ren scowled; she saw the muscles in his jaw flex as he ground his teeth. "If he isn't now, he soon will be."

There was unalloyed menace in his tone, and she shrank from it. "You would kill him, just like that?"

He shrugged. "He was going to kill you."

"But he didn't!"

"It doesn't matter. I've been looking for an excuse to kill him for months."

She stared at him, struck by his casually callous attitude. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter." The Naga stirred, groaning, drawing their attention back to him. Kylo grunted. "I have to deal with him. Will you be alright?"

At her nod, he bent to grab the Naga by the back of his lorica style armor and dragged him to sprawl by the side of the pool. Then he sat, his feet in the water, and muttered another indecipherable phrase.

It was an incantation, she realized. He tensed, his head low, as he shifted back. It was a strange and beautiful thing to watch, as his legs fused and iridescent black scales erupted from pale skin. When it was done, he shook himself out and slid into the pool with one hand back on the Naga's lorica.

"Will you come back?"

He gave a curt nod, and then disappeared with his burden.

* * *

Kylo Ren collected Hux's lackeys from their loitering outside the entrance to his grotto with only a glance. If they thought anything of him dragging their general's unconscious body behind him, they were intelligent enough not to say anything about it.

Hux, on the other hand, hadn't the wits of a sea louse and began raising hell the moment he regained consciousness. He wrenched himself from Kylo's grasp and slapped his hand away when he reached for him again.

"This is an outrage! The Supreme Leader will be hearing about this little stunt of yours, Ren."

Kylo grabbed his arm with vice-like fingers and dragged the Naga's face close to his own. "The Supreme Leader will be hearing about all of it from me, and if you had any idea how close you are to death at this moment, then you would not dare even to speak to me. So, will you come along like a good little worm, or will I need to render you unconscious once more?"

Hux, who'd paled considerably during that speech, jerked his arm free with a sniff and gestured for Kylo to lead on.

"I thought so." They reached Snoke's quarters without further incident. Kylo's glower, well-known for presaging his volatile temper, served to clear their path of all who might have waylaid them. Hux paused to neaten himself at the doorway to the audience chamber, but Kylo swept forward to bow before Supreme Leader Snoke.

"I see you have returned our wayward general to his post," Snoke drawled from his seat on the throne, his fingers steepled under his chin.

"I never left my post, Supreme Leader," Hux interjected, his tone pompous. He cut a look at Kylo and curled his lip in a sneer. "Did you know that your feral beast has a secret lair outside the complex, and a pet of his own?"

Snoke sat back on his throne and draped his wrists over its arms, and looked down his nose at Hux. "As a matter of fact, I did."

Hux's face blanked, and Kylo saw him gulp. "You—what?"

"My apprentice has kept that refuge for years now. He never kept it a secret from me. The pet, as you call her, is a more recent acquisition, but I've known about her from the beginning as well." Snoke frowned, then, and Hux began to tremble. "Is this all you have to say for yourself?"

"But, Supreme Leader, he—he attacked me!"

Kylo raised an enquiring brow, and Snoke made a gesture of acquiescence. Knowing that he had been given free rein in this matter, Kylo turned to the general with a snarl. "Of course I attacked you," he spat. "You've been using First Order manpower to have me tailed on the basis of a personal vendetta. You stole into my sanctuary in secret at a time when you knew I would be elsewhere. You," he hesitated a brief moment here, choosing his words carefully. "You damaged my property. And now you've sought to undermine my position here with spurious claims of wrongdoing! Again!" His voice had risen from a growl to a thundering roar as he spoke, and he paused for a moment to gather his temper before continuing. "You, Armitage Hux, are alive right now only because I am not the feral beast you claim. Now, get out of my sight."

Hux, whose complexion had mottled in both fear and anger, fled the room.

"If you kill him, then I will hold you responsible for replacing him," Snoke said when Hux was gone, his voice mild.

"I understand." He now had tacit permission to eliminate Hux, but he would need to be careful about exercising it.

Snoke tilted his misshapen head and eyed him consideringly. "It surprises me, apprentice, that you are still in possession of the girl, and so defensive of her. Do you no longer plan to return her to the surface?"

He considered his answer. He would not lie to Snoke, but the less he knew the better. "I will keep her until I tire of her," he said, finally, hoping that it would be enough to satisfy him. It wasn't.

"Hm." Snoke steepled his fingers once more, still eyeing him thoughtfully, and Kylo felt alarm bloom. It would not be good for Snoke to take too much interest in his "pet".

Kylo regarded Snoke with apparent boredom. "The girl is mine, Master. I'll not share her with Armitage Hux."

The Supreme Leader of the First Order snickered, and dismissed him with a wave.


	4. Under the Skin

For the second time that day, Rey awoke with the certain knowledge that she was not alone. But this time, unlike before, that awareness was not coupled with chilling fear. There was a creak and then the soft rustling of someone pawing through the chest at the foot of the bed. Rey lifted her head to peer through the gloom. "Ren?"

The rustling stopped. "Yes."

She sat up, rubbing her hands over tired eyes. "I thought maybe you'd changed your mind."

"No." There was another creak, which Rey belatedly identified as the hinges on the chest, and then one of the shadows near the floor began to elongate. There was more rustling, a bit of clanking from his armor, and then he slipped from the room.

Rey pushed the blankets back and followed him.

He turned at the sound of her light footsteps on the stone floor, his brows raised in question. In the dim light of a single mage light, she saw that he had donned a pair of snug trousers below the oiled leather of his cuirass, and it occurred to her then that his legs had been just as nude beneath his armor as his tail had been. Her cheeks heated, and she shrugged. "I still want to know who you are."

Oblivious to her embarrassment, or maybe just choosing to ignore it, he continued across the cave to sit in the sole chair. "My name is Kylo Ren," he began, loosening the straps of his armor just as he had done when he'd first brought her here, "and I am…complicated."

She absorbed that in silence and studied him as he worked. It was the first time she'd really looked at him, and she found him to be...fascinating. He was pale, with dark eyes, a straight blade of a nose, and black, wavy hair. He wore it longer than most of the men she knew; both Poe and Finn wore theirs cropped short, though Luke's had grown shaggy of late. Kylo Ren had hair that brushed his shoulders, with part of it held back in a half-knot to keep it out of his face. He wasn't handsome in the conventional sense, but his features were strikingly attractive. He had a wide, generous mouth that was at that moment pulled into a slight grimace as he worked at a strap behind his shoulder. His expression eased when the strap gave, and she realized she was staring. Her gaze averted, she licked her lips and asked the question that she'd been pondering as she fell asleep. "Are you a Mer, or a man?"

He sighed, seeming resigned to answering her questions. "I am a Sandwalker, " he said, as if that explained everything.

It didn't.

When she said nothing, he looked up, took in her confusion, and elaborated. "A half-breed."

"Oh. _Oh!_" Her eyes widened with comprehension. "So your parents…?"

"My mother is a princess among the Mer," he confirmed in a monotone, his gaze on the growing pile of armor as his fingers worked absently at the straps on his bracers. "My father is a smuggler. A pirate. Both are rebels."

"And you?"

"I—am something else, entirely."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're going to get."

Her lips pressed together in disappointment, but she didn't press. Instead, she offered, "I'm Rey."

Kylo Ren dropped the second bracer to the table and stood, bare to the waist and alarmingly _big_, and she took a step back. "Rey," he repeated, drawing out her name as if tasting it on his tongue.

"Yes," she nodded. "I'm a rebel, too."

That generous mouth quirked. "I'd gathered."

He said nothing more, and she squirmed beneath the weight of his gaze. "I—I wanted to apologize," she blurted, filling the space between them, "for the way I treated you. When we first met. You were kind, and I—"

"I'm not kind," he interrupted, frowning. "Don't make the mistake of thinking that I am."

"But, you saved me," Rey said, confused and a little angry at his denial. "You've saved me twice now."

"The first was an aberration." His eyes drifted down over her figure, and returned to hers warmer than they'd been. "The second was selfish."

Rey stiffened at the implication. "You don't mean that."

"You heard what I said to Hux."

"About claiming me?" Rey scoffed. "That was just for his benefit."

Kylo stepped closer, his gaze intent on her face. "Is that what you think?"

Rey flinched at his proximity, but didn't yield. "I think that not enough people tell you 'no'," she answered, crossing her arms over her chest.

The corners of his mouth kicked up in a small smile, and his eyes softened. "You're probably right."

He'd thrown her off-balance with that answer. She'd expected anger or bluster, not humor. He imbalanced her further when his eyes shifted slightly and his smile faded. Then he cupped her jaw in one large hand, tilting her face upwards. She jerked back instinctively. "Don't!"

The smile disappeared entirely. "I only want to heal you."

She eyed him warily, but didn't pull away when he cupped her chin once more. "You can do that?"

"Yes." His fingertips ran lightly over her bruised cheekbone and brushed her split lip. "I should have killed him for this."

"Kylo—"

"Be quiet," he whispered, and while she pursed her lips in irritation at his brusque command, she did as he asked. Satisfied with her compliance, his eyes slid closed in concentration. His hands were warm on her jaw, and she felt that warmth spread pleasantly through her abused flesh as the pain faded. "There." His eyes opened.

She stayed there, transfixed by his dark gaze, for the space of several heartbeats before she remembered herself and stepped away. His hands fell away, and Rey immediately regretted the loss of contact. She ignored it.

"Come," he said, gesturing to the darkened room beyond. "We should sleep."

She blinked in surprise. "Together?" His only response was to raise a brow at her, and she read the meaning there easily enough. The bed was the only place to lay down in the grotto that was not made of cold, hard rock, and it was more than large enough to accommodate them both. There was no way that she could reasonably deny him the right to sleep in his own bed; if she objected to sharing it with him, then she would be the one making her bed on the floor.

The question was, did she trust him enough to sleep next to him? Of course not, but what would she gain by sleeping on the cold rock? She had nowhere else to go if he decided to attack her.

It was not a difficult choice to make.

She swallowed hard, knowing how vulnerable she was, but seeing no way around it. "Right." She preceded him through the doorway, crawled to the far side of the bed, and slipped beneath the covers, wondering if she'd sleep at all.

Kylo watched her go with some shock. He hadn't expected her to acquiesce at all, much less to have done so easily. Her initial reaction was just as he'd expected—the play of emotions over her expression face had been easy to follow. First surprise, then discomfort, consideration and finally, resignation had flitted across her features in rapid succession. He'd anticipated all sorts of responses; a request that he leave, that he sleep on the floor, or even that she herself sleep on the floor. That she had simply agreed made him feel strange.

Off-balance.

Yet there she was, clambering into the bed with little more than a moment's hesitation.

It showed a level of trust in him that he wasn't sure he deserved.

Bemused, he followed after her without a word. He simply slid into the bed with his back to her and closed his eyes to sleep.

They immediately popped open. Her scent surrounded him, assaulting his senses in an unexpected wave. He hadn't counted on smelling her on his pillow, but he should have. She'd been sleeping on it for almost two weeks now. Without conscious thought, he turned his face into the pillow and inhaled. He'd noted before that she smelled like warm sunshine. It had reminded of days spent with his father when he was a boy, learning his way around the _Falcon_. Now, it reminded him of heated moments stolen on the sun-warmed deck of that same ship.

He decided that this had been a mistake after all. She should have asked him to leave; he should have returned to his quarters at the citadel. Now, now that he was here, he wasn't sure that he could bring himself to leave—even if it meant a sleepless night of lying next to a woman he dare not touch.

But sleep he did, deep and dreamless. He slept better than he had in far too long, and when he woke, it took far longer to climb from the depths of slumber than it usually did. He was warm, far warmer than normal after a night spent in the chill damp of the grotto. He yawned, then moved to pull his arms from beneath the blankets and froze when he met resistance. All at once, he became aware of the warm weight pressed along his side and draped over his stomach, gently holding his arms in place.

_Rey_.

She must have cuddled up to him in the night, seeking comfort or warmth or both. He blew out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. His left arm was well and truly pinned beneath her; there was no way he could move it without waking her, but his right arm, laid carelessly over his stomach, could be easily slid from beneath her hand. He did so, holding his breath again when she murmured in her sleep and pressed closer still, and releasing it only when she subsided into peaceful slumber once more.

With his right arm now free, he scrubbed his hand over his face and pushed his fingers back into his hair, pondering the situation. At this point, the sensible choice was clear: move from the bed whether it wakes her or not, don his armor, and return to the fortress.

Kylo Ren did not want to be sensible.

He wanted to remain here, with her, to bask in the simple pleasure of human contact. No one touched him, largely because he did not _want_ to be touched. It was foreign to be held so intimately. Oh, there was sex, but that was never about touch. Sex, for him, was almost always about sating his baser needs, and even more, it was about power. Women who wanted to bed the dangerously powerful Master of the Knights of Ren just to prove that they could, for the bragging rights, or in a play for power. More than one had come to him with plans of treachery; those he had disposed of expeditiously, but only after slaking his lust in their bodies. _None_ of them had touched him casually, none of them had dared to actually fall asleep by his side. No one had slept by his side since before he'd forsaken the sun. It felt _good_.

Kylo Ren placed his hand over hers on his chest, drew a deep breath and acknowledged the reality that she had become a weakness for him. She'd gotten beneath his skin, made him want things he'd sworn would never tempt him again.

It was no wonder that Snoke was wary.

* * *

He was gone when she woke, but her usual ration of fruit and bread and cheese had been left on the table. As she sat at the table to break her fast, Rey wondered whether she was disappointed or relieved.

She had been able to sleep the night before, and indeed, had slept better than she had since first waking in his grotto. It was strange to be so comfortable with someone who made her feel so distinctly uncomfortable. She frowned. How was that even possible?

Frustrated with her inability to make sense of her conflicting thoughts, she threw down her bread and wrapped the rest of the food to eat later.

It was time to ask him again to take her back, and she resolved to do just that as soon as he returned.

Hours later, she began to wonder again whether he would be returning at all. She'd whiled away the day with his books, eaten the rest of her food, and now sat with a golden lyre in her lap, idly strumming the out-of-tune strings. Finally, she gave up even on that and simply went to bed.

Sleep did not come easy, tonight. As she lay there, alone in the wide bed, the direction of her thoughts surprised her. It was hard not to think of his large body ranged along hers, now that she knew what it felt like to sleep beside him. This was not the first time those thoughts had crossed her mind; after all, his own innuendos had suggested the possibility, but she'd been unwilling despite her attraction to him and the prospect that he might force her had stirred only fear. This was the first time that she'd thought of him with a curiosity she might be willing to explore.

It was crazy. She'd known him for only a matter of days, a few weeks at the most, and had spent precious little of that time actually in his company. She didn't trust easily, and while she'd had lovers here and there, it wasn't like her to fall into bed with just anyone. But he wasn't just anyone, was he? He was someone to her, someone important, and she had no idea how or why it had happened.

The realization stunned her, and it was a long time before she finally fell into fitful slumber. At some point, she awoke to the soft shush of clothing sliding over skin, and knew that he'd returned after all. He said nothing, simply climbed into the bed next to her and settled on his back.

She stared at him for a moment, then shyly shifted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He stiffened, inhaling sharply, and she feared that she'd overstepped. Then he moved his arm beneath her, wrapped it around her waist and pulled her snugly to him, tucking her head tighter into his shoulder with his other hand. The gesture was possessive, but it made her feel cherished and protected rather than caged. She relaxed against him and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	5. Revelations

Kylo was able to avoid Rey for another three days. He filled them with his work for Snoke, though his ties to the First Order chafed more each day. If that wasn't enough, he sparred with his knights. He put all of them through their paces, taking them on by turns, individually and in pairs, until he knew that Rey would be asleep and he would be exhausted enough to join her.

The nights were both heaven and hell, wrapped up in one warm, lithe woman. Staying away until after she'd gone to sleep and leaving before she woke allowed him to indulge his weakness for her without being forced to confront it, or having an opportunity for it to develop further. But each night when he slipped into the grotto, she would rouse just enough to snuggle sleepily into his side, tossing her arm and even her leg over his body as she molded herself to him. Each morning it became more difficult to leave her side and return to the cold citadel, and his role within it.

That cycle ended on the fourth day, when Snoke summoned him back to the throne room just as he was about to return to the grotto. It was an unusual request, and Kylo knew that whatever grace he'd been enjoying for the last several days was about to run out.

He was right: Snoke wanted the girl.

When he rose from the pool in his sanctuary an hour later, he found that Rey had waited up for him. He'd already heaved himself to the stone shelf circling the pool before he even realized she was there, though. He'd been completely preoccupied with Snoke's 'request' to meet Rey. He didn't see her sitting in the chair by the table, blinking myopically at him, until she softly called his name. He froze for a moment, then forced his thoughts down and quirked a small smile at her. "You're up late."

"I know." She shrugged, rubbing her eyes. "I wanted to talk to you."

He tensed. Did she already know? "Is something wrong?"

"No," she said, standing and stretching.

"Hmm." When she said nothing else, he closed his eyes and drew in a breath in preparation for calling on his natural magic to shift between forms.

"Wait!"

He looked up at her blankly. "Wait?" He repeated, confused.

"I've never really seen you, like this." She paused, nibbled at her lip, and then amended, "or at least, I've never really looked. Do you mind?"

"Oh," he said, blinking. Her request was so unexpected that he quite forgot what he'd been asked to do. He was suddenly struck with the irrational fear that she would not like his Mer self, endowed as he was with a long black fish tail rather than human legs. Would she find him repulsive? Apparently not. She'd already crossed the cave to kneel next to him on the stone floor, her eyes curious.

Kylo gave himself a mental shake, shoved his insecurities down, and turned himself on the stone ledge so that his fin was laid along the pool's edge rather than trailing in the water. "I don't mind."

She smiled in answer, and it felt to Kylo like the sun breaking through dark clouds. He looked away and began removing his armor, disconcerted by his reaction to a simple smile, then jumped at the feel of a light touch at his ear.

"They're pointed," she said in surprised delight, touching the pointed tip. "Did I just never notice?"

He shrugged, and went back to removing his cuirass. "I have Mer ears as a Mer, and human ears as a human."

"Hmm. It's so strange that you shift back and forth between the pure forms, rather than simply being a blend of the two." She bent down to peer at the iridescent black scales on his tail, then ran her fingers lightly over them, eliciting a shiver. "You're warm!"

Kylo Ren lifted the cuirass over his head and set it aside. "I am," he said, doing his best to ignore her touch. "We Mer are warm-blooded, just like humans. There would be no offspring from human-Mer couplings, otherwise."

Her eyes widened at that, and she averted her gaze with a blush. "That…makes sense." She touched her hand to his tail again, this time laying her palm flat and sliding her hand down to the gossamer fin at his side. "So delicate," she murmured, holding the fin gently between her fingers and sliding them down its length.

He choked, shuddering a bit at the intimate touch. He gave up on trying to remove the rest of his armor, focusing instead on the wonder stamped on her features and the feel of her exploring fingers. He should stop her, he really should, but he'd _craved_ her hands on him. He cast about for something to say, and remembered her comment about his dual forms. "I've never really thought about it," he bit out, his voice tight. "About shifting between forms, I mean."

"I suppose you wouldn't," she replied, tracing a finger over the fading scales at his waist and following the line as it dipped below his navel. "It's normal for you."

He sucked in his breath. "Rey," he rasped, catching her hand in a firm grip; she looked up at him in surprise and her fingers curled around his. "Rey, this is—I can't—you can't—is it your intention to seduce me?"

Rey's mouth parted, and her eyes blew wide with sudden understanding. She snatched her hand away, blushing hotly. "I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean—" she broke off, her mouth working soundlessly.

Kylo felt the loss of her touch keenly, felt the rejection inherent in her retreat. But was it rejection? He studied her, trying to discern whether she felt any of the same things that he did, but her expression showed only embarrassment as her eyes roved over his face. If he kissed her, would she welcome it, or would she shove him back into the water in offended fury? Was he willing to risk a true rejection—?

Her mouth closed with a snap, interrupting his thoughts, and he watched as her embarrassment gave way to resolve. She leaned forward; her eyes locked on his, she placed her hand on his fin and pressed a shy, chaste kiss to his mouth. When she pulled back, she met his eyes once more and he saw the question, the _invitation_ in hers.

"Rey," he breathed in answer, catching the back of her head with his hand and pulling her forward to meet him as he leaned into her.

"Kylo," she whispered just as he kissed her again.

He broke the kiss, and leaned his forehead against hers. "Ben."

"What?"

"My real name is Ben," he said, sliding his palms down her arms to grip her hands as she sat back to look at him with a frown.

"I thought your name was Kylo Ren?"

"That is what I'm called now, but I think—I think that I'd like you to use my given name." He brushed her hair back from her face, and ran the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. "I want you to call me Ben."

Rey blinked at him, her mind working, fitting the pieces together into an impossible whole.

_Ben._

_Son of a smuggler. _

_Parents are rebels._

_Estranged from his family._

"You're Ben Solo," she breathed faintly, testing her theory aloud.

Kylo Ren—_Ben Solo_—went rigid beside her.

* * *

Kylo Ren stared at Rey in frozen horror as his mind scrambled to take in that _she knew who he was._ It had been a thoughtless impulse to give her his real name, one which he now regretted. But how could he have anticipated _this_? "How do you know that name?" he demanded. Ben Solo was gone; even in his own head he was Kylo Ren.

"You are, aren't you?" Rey asked. "They told me about you."

"Who are you?" he asked, instead of answering.

For several long moments, she was quiet. Then she sighed. "I'm no one," she said softly.

"No one?" he prompted, when she said nothing more.

"No one." She sighed again and scooted back until she could lean against the wall opposite him, her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them. "I'm not even sure that my name is actually Rey, or if it was short for something else. I don't know who my parents were, and I don't know where I came from. Someone left me on Isla Jakku when I was little and never returned."

Her bald recital struck him, shaking him out of his own head enough to think. This wasn't what he'd wanted to know, and he was fairly certain he _didn't_ want to know this. "Rey—"

She shot him a dark look and continued, speaking over him. "They left me with a junk trader named Unkar and told me to wait for them, that they'd be back for me. I believed them. I believed for years that they'd return, because I had to believe in something. I stayed there, scavenging the shipwrecks scattered around the island and trading my finds for scraps for so long that I'm not even sure how long it really was. I was oblivious to everything except survival. I only left the island a few years ago, when someone new wrecked on the island with enemies right behind him and I was suddenly sucked into a rebellion I'd never heard of against an Empire I hadn't known existed." Her lips tilted up in a half smile, her eyes distant as she remembered. "It was so strange. My whole life had been nothing but a desperate hand to mouth existence on one tiny island, and then..."

Kylo sighed and brought his tail up to mirror her posture. He knew where this was going. "The Rebellion."

Rey nodded, bringing her eyes back to his. "Finn and I escaped Jakku on the _Falcon_."

The _Millenium Falcon _no doubt_. _Kylo flinched at the name, and hated himself a little bit more for the weakness it revealed. Memories flashed through Kylo's mind, some good and some bad but all of them painful. He shoved them down.

"You weren't on the _Falcon _that day."

"The day we met? No. That was the _Ebon Prime, _Poe Dameron's ship."

Kylo acknowledged that with a grunt, but said nothing. He didn't want to hear about Poe Dameron.

She tilted her head to the side, studying him. "They miss you, you know."

He snorted at that, clenching his jaw and his fists against the hope. "I doubt it."

"Han looks for you."

Kylo went utterly still. That wasn't possible; Han Solo was dead.

"Chewie too, for that matter," she went on, unaware of his change in mood. "At every port, in every tavern, on every ship. They look for you."

"You lie," he rasped. His father was dead, and if his enormous first mate was still looking for him, it was only so he could finish what his crossbow bolt had begun. "Do not lie to me."

"Lying?" Rey looked at him in surprise, then her expression turned wary. "What are you talking about? Why would I lie?"

"Han Solo is dead."

"Oh, Ben." She turned to face him fully, her expression earnest. "He's not-"

"Han Solo is dead," he repeated harshly, his voice like gravel. "I killed him myself."

She recoiled from him, but set her jaw stubbornly. "You're wrong."

"Stop it." He bared his teeth in a snarl, furious that she wouldn't obey him and furious that she wouldn't be cowed. "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know what happened between you, Ben-"

"Stop talking."

"-but your father is _alive_."

"I said, stop!" he roared, slamming the side of his fist into the stone floor. He lunged for his cuirass and she flinched, her eyes wide and skin pale. He worked his jaw, striving to keep control of his temper, then redressed himself in his armor with mechanical efficiency. He wasn't so wrapped up within himself that he didn't recognize the reflexive movement for what it was, but he couldn't deal with anything beyond his own pain.

No, not pain. Kylo Ren didn't feel pain. He didn't let anyone get close enough to cause him pain. He'd let his guard down with this woman, though, and somehow she'd wormed her way closer to him than anyone had come in years. She'd probed deeper than anyone other than Snoke, and was probing still. He should never have brought her here—should never have let himself touch her. Now, he recognized her for the weakness she was.

Kylo Ren made it a point to excise all his weaknesses.

"We're leaving," he said stonily, holding his hand out to her. He had to be stone; it was the only way he could do what was necessary.

She blinked at his hand. "What?"

"Come," he said, gesturing her forward. "We are late for an audience with the Supreme Leader."

"Ben-"

"You should be pleased. It's what you wanted."

"What is your problem?" she asked, rising to her feet at last. "I don't understand—"

"There's nothing to understand." He whispered the spell to shift, and she flinched again as he rose to move toward her. "You were summoned to Supremacy, and so we go."

She put a hand out to stop him before he reached her, and he allowed it. "Why are you so angry? They will be happy—"

"They won't," he growled. Her hurt and confusion battered him in waves. He shut it out and sent her to sleep, just as he had on the day he'd first found her. He wanted to be ruthless, as he'd been then, but he couldn't. He slipped gently into her mind rather than barging in, and when she began to fall, he caught her deftly in his arms and lowered her carefully to the floor.

"You're wrong," he murmured, brushing her hair back from her face. "And it changes everything."


	6. Supremacy

Kylo cradled Rey against his chest as he swam towards Supremacy, the citadel of the Supreme Leader, but he knew it would be folly to do so within its walls. Not only did the position cast her in a position of weakness, it revealed far too much about his feelings for her.

Snoke scented weakness the way sharks scented blood.

He stopped just outside the city, well back from the gate and hidden behind a pillar of natural rock to wake her from her induced slumber. He hated the necessity of it; hated the necessity of bringing here, into this den of snakes. She was so lovely, so serene in repose. She would not be serene when she woke. Her temper would flare, and she'd be the more beautiful for it.

There is no way that Snoke would not want her, this bright spark in a court of dull obedience.

Kylo was no longer so sure that he should have brought her here, no longer sure that it wouldn't have been better to throw himself on the mercies of his parents' people, but he shoved his misgivings down. He couldn't ever return; he knew he could not. This was the only way forward. He'd done what he could to protect her; the unassuming torque ringed her throat, and would do much to shield her from Snoke's insidious magic. Inside, he would do as much as he could to safeguard that spark of hers, and hopefully he would bring her away again unscathed by the experience.

Then he would let her go.

Tightening his jaw against the pain of that thought, _gods he had only known her for a matter of weeks how could she mean so much_, he released her legs and cupped her face as he slid into her mind and brought her back to wakefulness.

Rey woke in a furious panic, as he'd expected. She was disoriented by the change in location and terrified by the water pressing in all around her, not yet realizing that she was in no danger. She managed to land a rather painful kick to his fin and an extremely painful knee to his groin in her thrashing.

He grunted as the blows landed. "Pax, Rey," he said into her mind. "Breathe. You won't drown. I've made it so that you can breathe."

She stilled against him, but she didn't attempt to breathe in. The drive to hold her breath against the water was too strong, and he suspected that her faith in him was currently rather weak. Instead, she glared at him distrustfully as her body began to shake with the need for oxygen.

"Breathe. If nothing else, you can at least trust me not to let you die, can't you?"

Her body convulsed as her instinct to breathe overcame her ability to hold her breath; she expelled the water already in her lungs before sucking in more. Her eyes widened.

"I told you," he said, still speaking into her mind. Her stunned relief was almost enough to make him smile. "How do you think you came to be here without drowning?"

She glared at him again. "You bastard!" she said as she beat her fist against his chest, pushing herself away from him.

Or, tried to. The dynamics of speaking and moving underwater were very different from what she was accustomed to. Her words were unintelligible and her blow insubstantial. He did smile then, and released his hold so that she drifted away from his body.

"Speak into my mind. You don't have the ability for verbal speech under water."

"You bastard," she repeated mentally, clumsily forcing the words outward in a mental shout that was probably heard inside the city.

Kylo felt his expression go cold and he grabbed her wrist in a tight grip. "You will not speak to me in that manner here. I am not known for tolerating such insolence, and since you do not have the skill to speak directly to me, you must guard your thoughts."

"And if I don't?" she responded hotly, ineffectually yanking her hand back.

He sighed. He'd known she wouldn't meekly agree, but he'd hoped. At least she'd lowered her mental 'volume', so to speak. "The man you will meet is both vicious and capricious, and he is the absolute power in this realm. Do not challenge him as you have challenged me." Anger stiffened her spine, but his hand shot out and clasped her neck, drawing her closer. "Damnit woman," he hissed mentally. "I am trying to preserve your life. Do not argue. Lower your eyes, and if you cannot be submissive, then at least pretend to be. The court of the Supreme Leader is, at its core, a deadly game. If you do not follow my lead, play by the rules I give you, you will get at least one of us killed."

She blinked at that, apparently surprised into actually listening. Good. He released her.

"If it comes to that, then I hope that you will be the one to die." He let that sink in for a moment, saw her eyes widen in renewed betrayal, before he continued. "Death would be a release. Surviving his anger is worse."

Her eyes widened again, and she paled visibly even in the dim light of the deep sea. Then her expression hardened. "And you willingly serve such a master?"

"I have no choice. It's who I am."

"I don't believe that." She crossed her arms mulishly over her chest. "There is always choice."

"Believe what you will, so long as you obey. It's time to go."

* * *

Rey glared at Kylo's back as she followed him through the city.

Initially, after coming through the gate, her curiosity had her looking around at her surroundings in spite of herself. She didn't know what she'd expected—opulence and grandeur, perhaps, or something lush and beautiful like the reefs she'd seen closer to shore—but it wasn't this.

_This_ was brutal in its monotony. Everything around her was unadorned austerity: all straight lines, square buildings, and shades of somber grey. It didn't take long for her bore of the city and return her attention to the infuriating Mer swimming arrogantly in front of her. So assured was he of her compliance that he never once bothered to look behind him.

It burned Rey to follow meekly behind him, but what else could she do? So she followed him obediently enough, but her expression was openly defiant in a way that likely had him gritting his teeth. Many of the people they passed, both Mer and Naga alike, stared openly. Whispers followed them; Kylo ignored everyone, and she tried to do the same. From his interaction with that Naga in his grotto, she'd gathered that he was someone of import. Did people always stare at him? Or were they staring because of her?

"Quiet your thoughts," he whispered into her mind. "They stare because of me—and because you are not cowed in my wake."

She pressed her lips together in frustration, but did what she could to calm herself. If the wary, skittish people around her were any indication, he hadn't lied about the danger of this place. She could trust him in that much, at least.

Still, she couldn't understand _why_ he'd brought her here. She'd come to trust him, but it was clear that she'd completely misread their respective positions. Her first impression had been accurate after all: he was her captor, not her rescuer. So perhaps the question was not why he'd turned on her and brought her here, but rather why she'd trusted him in the first place.

Rey snorted. Clearly, the solitude had dulled her wits.

"_This_ is your pet, Ren?"

Rey jerked her head up and met the gaze of what _must_ be a Siren. She was large, easily as large as Kylo, and sleekly muscled—clearly a warrior, and still undeniably, dangerously feminine. Her beauty was sharp and cold, almost alien. Her subtly scaled skin was pale and iridescent, her hair an almost white blond, and her eyes a frosted blue. Rey felt the pull of her allure, and suddenly understood why so many sailors had been drawn to their deaths by these creatures.

Those iced blue eyes narrowed on Rey, then flicked to Kylo.

The siren had clearly dismissed her as unimportant, and focused entirely on Kylo. Rey bristled but held her tongue. "She hardly seems worth your notice."

Kylo met her gaze but said nothing. He merely arched one cold, arrogant brow, and waited for her to withdraw.

The siren smiled faintly. "Our Supreme Leader is not in an indulgent mood tonight, Ren."

"Do you have something you wish to say, Phasma?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

Phasma shrugged. "Only that I hope you are not overly fond of your pet." Her attention shifted back to Rey, a cruel smile curling her mouth. "She is unlikely to be leaving with you."

Rey stiffened at this, but Kylo Ren appeared completely unaffected. His answer made the bottom drop out of her stomach.

"Then I hope that he will find her pleasing."

Phasma eyed Rey appraisingly and she fought the urge to squirm. It was a game, she realized, just as Kylo had said. Phasma had only feigned disinterest because she thought Kylo would continue to protect her. She could not be embarrassed at being denied what she wanted if she never admitted to wanting it, after all. And Kylo—Gods above, Rey prayed that Kylo was only feigning his disinterest as well.

Kylo turned from Phasma and gestured for Rey to follow. "Leash your appetite, Siren," he tossed back. "If there is anything left when he has finished with her, then perhaps you will have an opportunity."

Rey felt her heart stutter, but knew that he was her only chance of surviving this place. She could only pray that she'd known the true man in his grotto, because the one before her now was every inch the monster she'd accused him of being.

No one else spoke to them until they reached the heart of Supremacy, where the Supreme Leader apparently made his home. This building had the same austere lines and colors as the rest of the city, but its size dwarfed every other structure there. After a brief glance up at its bulk, she returned her focus to the back of Kylo's head. She knew instinctively that it would not do to let them see her fear, so she throttled the fear that clawing at her throat and focused on her anger with him instead.

A pair of red-garbed sentries hovered at attention by the door; Kylo flowed past them without hesitation. More of the guards were stationed at intervals throughout the structure. None of them moved to look at her, but she could feel their attention on her nevertheless. It was unnerving to the point that it was almost a relief when Kylo paused outside a set of carved obsidian doors, flanked by yet another matched set of guards, to regard her intently.

"Do not disappoint me," he said, and somehow, she knew that he spoke not only for her benefit, but for the guards as well.

An elaborate game, he'd called it. It was another warning, however veiled, and she gave a jerky nod. It galled her to submit, but his repeated warnings meant that he wasn't as apathetic as he'd pretended to Phasma. Hope bloomed.

At his curt nod, the guards moved as one to open the doors. He moved as confidently into this space as he had every other, propelling her into the room beside him with a hand resting on the back of her neck. When they reached the dias at the end of the room, he pushed her down beside him as he bowed subserviently.

"Master," he said, without looking up.

"Ah, my good and faithful apprentice," boomed a voice in her head, startling her into looking up in spite of Kylo's warning squeeze to her neck. A nightmare sat before her. He was a Mer, she thought, but his visage was grey and grotesquely twisted, with a parody of a smile and a shark's cold eyes. "I felt the conflict in you earlier tonight, and wondered. Now my faith in you has been restored."

Kylo didn't move or respond, and the Leader's eyes moved to hers.

She remembered too late that she should have kept her gaze on the sandy floor. A fresh wave of fear washed through her, but she knew instinctively that now that she'd met his eyes it would be a mistake to back down. She straightened fully, pulling from Kylo's hand on her neck, and regarded him with every bit of defiance she could muster.


End file.
